


Mood Halo

by fishfinna



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe, Drinking, Drunken Confessions, Fluff, Historical References, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, Lovesick Crowley, Mood halos, Mutual Pining, Other, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22027672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishfinna/pseuds/fishfinna
Summary: Alternate Universe where angels have halos that glow to depict their emotions. Based off a Tumblr prompt.“You’re an angel. I don’t think you can do the wrong thing!”“Oh, oh thank you. It has been bothering me,” The halo turned a light shade of pink.“What does pink mean?” Crowley asked with a smile and vague gesture to the ring of pure light above the being’s head. “Actually what do any of the shades mean? The Almighty created halos long after my fall.”The angel’s eyes went wide. “Pink! for heavens sake why would it be pink!” A slight blush crept across his face, and the ring deepened in colour as he turned his head awkwardly to get a better look. “Well it’s umm... it’s none of your business find out for yourself why don’t you!”The demon smiled at that. He was most certainly not hopelessly smitten with the principality already. “Sure thing angel, I just might.”
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 175





	Mood Halo

**Author's Note:**

> Based off a Tumblr prompt I can’t for the life of me find.
> 
> Wrote this in an afternoon with no plan of where it was going or how it would turn out, so the spelling and grammar are probably just appalling and I take full responsibility. Also this is my first posted fic! But I’ll do more if this one gets enough support.

When Crowley had first slithered up the wall of Eden the angel before him looked as white as snow. Pale and radiant from the tip of his bare feet to the shimmering white halo hovering above his head. The being was purity manifest. Shifting forms to stand next to the unfamiliar principality had been risky, but the holy being’s reaction settled something within him.

Fear, horror, and distrust painted the angelic features and the previously white halo glowed a deep saturated red. The colour offear is a dark red, Crowley made a mental note of this. He wasn’t normally one to delight in the trepidation of others, but he had been questioning whether the whole apple thing was actually a good call, and a reaction like this suggested it was plenty evil.

  
“Well that went down like a lead balloon.” For an ice breaker it was just awful. Though given their current situation it could have been worse. If he was actually any good at his job he would be fighting the angel at this very moment, so uncomfortably forced small talk was probably not the worst way of introducing himself.

The angel softened slightly, even laughed in polite awkwardness. His halo shifting to a stable yellow. “Sorry what was that?”

Their conversation progressed slowly. Crowley almost regretted desiring to speak with the angel. He was a demon after all, if Hell learned he was associating with the enemy even in a small way like this, well he didn’t want to think about it.

“Didn’t you have a flaming sword?” asked the serpent.

“W- Well, umm,” the angel stammered.

“You did, it was flaming like anything! What happens to it?” he pestered.

“I umm g-.”

“You what?”

“I gave it away!”

Something just clicked inside of Crowley. This was different, this one was special.

“I do hope I didn’t do the wrong thing,” Aziraphale muttered, his halo twisting to a soft blue.

“You’re an angel. I don’t think you can do the wrong thing!” It was meant as sarcasm rather than reassurance, but the principality smiled brightly as if it was intended as the latter.

“Oh, oh thank you. It has been bothering me.” The halo turned a light shade of pink.

“What does pink mean?” Crowley asked with a smile and vague gesture to the ring of pure light above the being’s head. “Actually what do any of the shades mean? The Almighty created halos long after my fall.”

Aziraphale’s eyes went wide. “Pink! for heavens sake why would it be pink!” A slight blush crept across his face, the ring deepening in colour as he turned his head awkwardly to get a better look. “Well it’s umm... it’s none of your business find out for yourself why don’t you!”

The demon smiled at that. “Sure thing angel, I just might.”

——

Later in history, when the humans became fearful of the presence of the supernatural. Ethereal and occult beings would tuck any non-human traits behind the veil of reality, where only other celestials could see them. Crowley liked it that way, it made him feel special to know that only he could see the colour of emotions Aziraphale displayed during any given moment.

He got better at recognizing them too, though he could never be sure, no matter how much he asked, his angel never gave him a straight answer. So with no other option, Crowley attempted to memorize. Yellow was curiosity or interest. That one was easy enough to place. Blue could be sadness, contentment, or boredom depending on the shade. Red was excitement or fear, black was anger, white was thought. It went on and on with thousands of shades and saturation’s for almost any emotion.

His favourite was pink. Even though it was neutral it made him happy in the most peculiar way. It seemed strange that the Almighty would choose pink as a standby shade, as gold or white would be much more becoming of an angelic being, but he already fell for questioning God’s will, so he decide to ignore the seemingly insignificant choice.

However as Aziraphale became more comfortable around Crowley the colour began to shift to something deeper. He did all he could think of to inspire even brighter shades in the the angel, bringing him gifts, taking his more difficult tasks, playing the knight in shining armour, whatever he could think of.

There had been a moment at a church, as he walked away from rubble and destruction in his wake that he noticed the glow stronger then ever before. He didn’t need to turn around to know where it was coming from. It was so powerful, so condense and bright that he half thought Aziraphale had moved his halo into the human plane, only he hadn’t. Stealing a glance behind him he saw the brightly illuminated Angel stare after him, pink painting his halo with intensity like never before. Crowley felt oddly happy at that, if pink really was growing brighter the more Aziraphale trusted him, then maybe they were truly friends now. Maybe he could tell him how he felt, not now but eventually.

——

Crowley didn’t come to Hell very often, generally more in favour of sending off memos or communicating over corrupted technology. However Beelzebub had been more worried about earth based matters ever since technology had started to develop faster than the forces of hell could keep up with, and started yearly mandatory meetings with key demonic members to combat their poor understanding of anything more complex than a toaster.

The meetings had been largely a failure, disregarding the rare descent idea, such as the market crash of 2008 proposed by Dagon, or the M25 design alteration done by Crowley, the majority of the time it involved a bunch of higher ups who hardly knew each other showing up unprepared and having to sit through an hour or more of awkward small talk till Beelzebub put them out of their misery and dismissed them.

During this current meeting, only three years till the supposed end of the world, no one much cared about what would happen to earth and diverted the topic to the much more interesting impending war.

“Can’t wait to take down those precious wank wings,” Ligur grinned. “Bet I can rip the wings off one like a little bug.”

Crowley shivered with the image of his angel being hurt in such a way and quickly searched for a much less violent method of combat. “Maybe we could use their emotions against them, their halos are emotion based right?” he supplied with the confidence of someone who only had a vague idea of what they were saying themselves.

The others seemed to consider this for a moment. “Well maybe they would be susceptible, but emotional damage isn’t all that time efficient,” Beelzebub reasoned.

“Yes I suppose so, and even figuring out the colour meaning can be difficult,” Crowley sighed. The other demons stared at him blankly. “I mean, well, from my observations it seems almost random. Like pink, why would They choose light pink as default!”

The others laughed furiously at him.

“Wow you really have been spending too long with humans. We figured out the colour system thousands of years back,” Hastur mocked through his chuckling.

“Pink!” Dagon howled with a blood curdling cackle. “You really thought pink was the default? White’s default, I thought every demon knew that!”

An Imp that Crowley couldn’t remember the name of suppressed their laughter long enough to slide a sheet of paper over to him. On it read a series of colours and their emotional correlations. He glanced over it, only skimming what interested him, finding he was mostly correct in his assumptions. Mostly anyways. White was neutral, indigo had meant sadness while light blue was thinking, and sure enough the shade index for pink was far from comfort or neutral. It was love, well the deeper shades anyways. The lighter flush was more so fondness.

“Where did you get this?” Crowley asked shakily.

“Michael, she traded it in exchange for some Hellfire and a dozen souls. It’s been heavily tested and it has yet to be flawed,” Beelzebub noted. “The real question is why was a memo not included in any of your mission data when we first received it?” Beelzebub glanced at Dagon suspiciously.

“Well, I _was_ planning on adding it but we had yet to test it on that cherub boy, and well by the time we verified it as reliable most of hell knew, so I suppose I just assumed word had crossed your path,” Dagon apologized without actually apologizing.

Crowley didn’t take his eyes off the sheet. “I have matters to attend to, may I be dismissed?” Crowley asked the Prince of Hell. Beelzebub nodded and Crowley bolted out the door, paper still in hand.

He didn’t process another coherent thought till he was safely back at his flat, and for the first time ever, he was watering his plants with a smile on his face.

“He loves me, he loves me. Satan I’m dreaming.” He confessed to the confused and frightened house plants. “What should I even say to him? I can’t just  tell  him I know, it would ruin our perfectly constructed dynamic! And how do I know he doesn’t just love me because he is a being of love or whatever?” Crowley announced. The plants weren’t sure if they should be scared or relieved by this sudden attitude shift from the once terrifying demon.

“Ok here’ssss an idea!” He hissed. “I just don’t tell him! Bloody brilliant! Can’t muck up our friendship if I do that, and it’s not like it would be that awful, we would still be together. Ya just gotta not let him know. How hard can it be?” Crowley resigned, trying to convince himself that the colour report was nothing more then a piece of paper.

For the first few years it had been almost too easy, he just caught himself smiling more, found his heart beat a little faster around the angel, felt a little more guilty every time he glanced at the deep pink glow illuminating just beyond the veil. He knew all too well that he was betraying Aziraphale’s trust. It hurt not to say anything, but the thought of the angel abandoning him hurt even more. So he stayed quiet.

Then came the end days.

Crowley desperately wanted to tell him, lay it all out, and if the angel rejected him he could always get drunk at some bar till the world ended. He still had some of that holy water left, maybe that could be useful if the oncoming apocalypse didn’t do the job. However Crowley bit his tongue, even if the angel loved him it didn’t mean he felt the same way. Maybe all those gifts and time together had just influenced it, or maybe it was just a countermeasure to combat his demonic aura, perhaps he did not love him at all.

——

However the world didn’t end, and the demon had kept his mouth shut through it all.

Aziraphale and Crowley walked in a daze through the front door of Crowley’s flat. Happy to be alive and terrified of what would inevitably come next for the two of them.

“Make yourself at home angel. I’ll grab us a drink,” Crowley said as he gestured to the living room and wandered over to the kitchen.

Aziraphale was on edge in the apartment, everything felt so sterile and cold. He awkwardly walked to the living room and took in the flat. It was practically empty. A hallway of lush green plants were illuminated by harsh artificial light. The plants shook slightly in curiosity, this was the first guest any one of them had seen before. An odd statue that made Aziraphale blush sat further down the hall. Past another open door was what Aziraphale assumed to be an office, what Crowley needed an office for was a mystery, but an odd dark puddle stained the carpet just beyond the door. Aziraphale concluded the flat was nothing like the demon who owned it.

“Found a few nice vintages in the back,” Crowley announced as he walked into the living room, carrying several bottles and two glasses. “Nothing as nice as yours but it’ll do in a pinch. I just need to get smashed, been one Heaven of a day.” He sat down on the sofa and placed the bottles on the coffee table before filling the two glasses to hazardous levels. Aziraphale sat across from him on a stiff recliner and took one glass.

They drained a bottle each before they even said a word. Too much to think about and no idea if they would even see tomorrow.

“Can’t quite believe we did it,” Aziraphale muttered into his glass. Crowley nodded and stretched himself out on the couch.

“Nah still not over angel. Any idea on the prophecy yet?” Crowley asked as he topped off both their glasses.

“Not yet, hellfire could be the  fyre, and ‘ When alle is fayed and all is done’  is probably any time past Armageddon. I caught it though, so it’s probably predicting my death.” Aziraphale reported gravely, his halo glowing a deep indigo.

Crowley stared at him, the thoughts of earlier that day ran through his mind. The fire had been terrifying, but it wasn’t what disturbed him. He didn’t want to lose his only friend again, not after they had worked so hard to save their home together. 

“I, uh, left a 1920’s red in the office, could you do me a favour and grab it? Should just be on the desk. I can do it, but I would prefer not to jump the puddle of holy water currently seeping into the carpet,” Crowley explained.

Aziraphale’s halo flashed a dark red. “Crowley you  used it?!” He shouted, sounding far more sober then he actually was.

Crowley nodded, realizing he forgot to mention his little run in with hell. “Well I didn’t  _want_ to use it, but Ligur would have... you know.” He swiped his thumb in front of his neck and made a little strangled noise in a poor attempt to demonstrate an execution. “I suppose I should be thanking you, without that I don’t think I could’ve escaped. Actually I should be doing a lot more than thanking you, Aziraphale I have been trying to say it for so long but I think I lo-Ngk!” Crowley never finished that sentence.

Aziraphale held him in a close hug. The demon’s eyes went wide as he processed the angel in his arms and the blinding pink halo illuminating the room, it was paradise. Until Aziraphale started crying.

“I’m so sorry. I, I thought  you were going to use it on yourself. I was so scared that you would leave me.”

Crowley hugged him back weakly and found the angel was trembling. “It’s ok, I’m sorry I never should have scared you like that,” the demon said as he attempted to comfort him.

“I’m the one who should be apologizing,” Aziraphale remarked softy. “I’ve treated you horribly these past few days. I should have told you when I found Adam, and helped protect you from Hell, but most importantly I should have never said we weren’t friends. You are my one and only friend, and it was wrong for me to say otherwise.”

Crowley felt heartbroken over being called a friend. He had wanted to be the angel’s friend for thousands of years, and now that he got it he wanted something more, something he knew he couldn’t have.  
  
Aziraphale pulled away and Crowley immediately missed the embrace. The angel’s halo glowed golden in revelation. “I think I know what the prophecy wants of us.”

Aziraphale held out a hand, and the demon took it. They swapped as easily as a human would breath. Both opened their eyes to face themselves, and smiled to one another in amazement.

Aziraphale’s body still had a halo, and the pink glowed just as brightly as ever. The face that once belonged to Crowley looked rather stunned.

“Well then,” said the voice that once belonged to Aziraphale, “this should do nicely.”

——

Heaven was just as horrible as Crowley remembered. Hell might be a gross slug pit of filth and sin but he would take it any day over these cold angels and strict rules. The rope bit his hands when he tried to move, and the spiral of Hellfire before him remained him far too much of the events of yesterday. He longed for the cozy old bookshop in Soho, with the only angel he actually liked.

“Up,” Uriel ordered as she cut the ropes.

“I don’t suppose I could persuade you to reconsider?” Crowley tried, already knowing the answer. “We’re meant to be the good guys for Heaven’s sake.”

“And for Heaven’s sake, we are meant to make examples out of traitors. Now, into the flames,” Gabriel said. Crowley fought back the desire to punch him in the face as he took a few steps towards the inferno.

“Right. Well lovely knowing you all. May we meet on a better occasion.” Crowley remarked, hoping to replicate Aziraphale’s politeness.

“Shut your mouth and die already,” Gabriel instructed with a fake smile. Crowley had never been happier to walk into fire.

He smiled slyly at the angels as the flames washed over him like water. The others looked on with confusion and fear, jumping back when the strange being breathed out a gust of hellfire in smug triumph. A glance at his halo showed that it was glowing purple with pride, or what Crowley assumed pride’s colour would be, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember seeing it on the sheet.

“What  is he?” Uriel asked with wide eyes.

“I-I’m not sure.” For the first time any angel could remember, Gabriel’s halo was a deep red.

Crowley stepped out of the flames, they dissipated behind him and faded to the size of a small camp fire, his halo still glowing a rich purple. “Well I trust that is all you wanted of me?” He spoke as warmly as Aziraphale, but grinned as threateningly as a snake.

Gabriel looked to his coworkers in disbelief before scanning the impossible scene once more. His eyes widened as he noticed the halo, hovering just above the angel’s head beyond the veil.

“That was quite clever,” Gabriel commended, cold but slightly impressed. ”In fact you almost had me fooled, but you made a mistake. Angels can’t feel a sin like pride. Isn’t that right, Crowley?”

The Serpent froze like a dear in headlights. “No... you couldn’t have... Oh Satan. Don’t hurt him, please. I know we’re close but blame me, it’s all my fault I tempted him into it, he wouldn’t have tried to stop Armageddon without me. I’ll do anything. I can work for you, I can be useful I promise! Just don’t hurt Aziraphale,” he stammered frantically.

Gabriel stared at him, looking surprised. “This  cannot be. I didn’t even think it was possible for a demon to feel  that way, let alone about an angel like Aziraphale. You aren’t even trying to corrupt him are you? Truly remarkable, you are full of surprises aren’t you Crowley?”

“The Heaven are you on about?!” The demon snapped.

“You’re halo, it’s pink whenever you talked about that failure of an angel. You love him don’t you?” Gabriel asked as if it was the most bizarre thing in the world, and to be fair it probably was. “How could a demon do such a thing? Isn’t it a little, well... beyond your nature?”

Crowley faked a smile. “If I could tell you I would, but in all honesty I have no clue why I feel this way,” The demon admitted. “Now I really must be returning, if you wish to kill me in exchange for Aziraphale’s life that could be arranged. Though I must admit I would rather enjoy just being left alone.”

“He won’t ever reciprocate, you are little more then a tool to him, and once you stop being useful he’ll abandon you. Do you honestly think an angel could love a demon like you?” Gabriel stated. Crowley flinched before meeting his eyes.

“No... I don’t think he will ever feel the same, but I don’t care. I love him enough to want what is best for him, and I will accept it if that isn’t me. Now, is there anything you require of me or not?”

“You are free to go serpent, so long as you don’t interfere we can put this whole mess behind us,” Gabriel assured, before glancing to his stunned coworkers beside him. “I trust nothing we discussed will go beyond this room? It could be quite... complicated, if word got out.”

Crowley nodded to the angels, before exiting the room, he was already running late.

——

The demon and the angel celebrated over dinner, before driving to the book shop in a haze of pure happiness.

Aziraphale threw open the door and took a deep breath. “Oh thank Heavens, It even smells the same!” he sighed. “I was worried it might be all off, seems I got rather lucky.”

The demon trailed close on his heels. “Some books are new though. All first additions of course, and I’m sure you can replace any that are missing, but I know how attached you were to them,” Crowley explained.

“Ah, don’t worry my dear. Most of them are fine, and I’m sure I can find other copies for many of them. Care for a celebratory drink? We did raid your storage last night, so I owe you one,” Aziraphale offered.

Crowley nodded, he had something to say and needed to be far more inebriated if he was going to say it. Not being sober might help numb the pain of rejection, and Aziraphale deserved to know, regardless of what it would do to their relationship.

They drank without fear for the first time in their lives. Not only were they free of Armageddon, but now they had their own side and didn’t have to hide their relationship. The two toasted to tomorrow and all it might bring with it, certain they would be there for it. They drank for hours as the evening turned to the dead of night. Aziraphale’s halo glowed a warm rosy colour.

“I love pink,” Crowley said, smiling dopily at the halo. “Excellent colour pink.” He had frankly no idea where he was going with this, but at least he was heading in the right direction.

“that so?” Aziraphale asked, sounding a little guilty. “You know, I could tell you it’s emotion, if you’d like.”

Crowley froze, not entirely sure how to react to that. A long silence stretched between them as he thought of what to say. “You don’t have to tell me angel. I’ve known for three years.”

Aziraphale gawked at him. “You knew what for how long?!” he responded with alarm. “How dare you! You snake, you could have told me you knew! Oh I feel like such an idiot!”

This is what Crowley had prepared himself for, the hatred and rejection, but at least he wasn’t betraying Aziraphale anymore. “I’m sorry, I should have told you sooner, I just didn’t want you to go away. I thought about running away with you and telling you everything, but you said no, so I kept quiet. I know you are a being of love and I shouldn’t have been intruding on your mental state like that, it was wrong of me and I apologize.”

The angel looked at him like he had two heads. “What do you mean you didn’t want me to go away? Why would I have left, those colours were for you.” Crowley spat out his drink in surprise.

the demon took a shaky breath and looked to Aziraphale in disbelief. “I’m an idiot,” he mumbled just loud enough for the other to hear. “I’ve liked you for six thousand years. I came up with so many reasons why you wouldn’t feel the same that I couldn’t accept it when I found out that you did.”

“Appears as though we have both been rather silly my dear. When you were borrowing my corporation I saw you felt affection as well. I ignored it and assumed you were just happy to find a way to survive, and that emotion had been translated to love,” the angel admitted. He sobered up and sat up a little straighter, his halo turning light blue as he thought for a moment. He blushed and the ring copied his shade of pink. “Would you mind sobering up for me dear?” Aziraphale requested kindly.

Crowley did so immediately, disliking the odd taste in his mouth but refusing to complain about it. “You almost never ask me to do that. You alright angel?”

“Perfectly fine,” Aziraphale answered. “I just didn’t want to do this while intoxicated.” He stood up and went to sit next to the demon on the sofa. “May I kiss you?”

Crowley flushed almost as red as his hair. “Yes. Please. Do you even have to ask?” he squeaked.

“No, I suppose I don’t,” the angel pondered before leaning into a quick chaste kiss.

“I love you,” Crowley admitted after the angel pulled away, feeling completely content with the world from the first time he could remember.

“I love you too.”

The two stayed like that for what felt like hours. Satisfied to just be near each other, safe, and bathed in the glow of a pink halo.


End file.
